Intrigue club offers warning before it even opens

Tryst nightclub shut down after its last bit of business Saturday night and in its place, come April 28, will be club Intrigue.

By Doug Elfman Las Vegas Review-Journal

November 10, 2015 - 10:33 am

Wynn Las Vegas tries out the name of its new club, Intrigue, on its sign. The new nightclub is slated to open in April. (Courtesy of Wynn)

Tryst nightclub shut down after its last bit of business Saturday night and in its place, come April 28, will be club Intrigue.

But the main thing being reported around the world in The Associated Press brief is that Intrigue will feature a 150-person-capacity VIP room where, if celebrities, whales or hangers-on post social media reports of whatever is going on in that VIP room, they risk never being allowed in, again.

That’s the kind of forbidden doughnut that begs for people to post things from that room, obviously. Me first.

The announcement of Tryst’s replacement was made Thursday night at the club, where media members were invited to party and get the scoop on the 14,000-square-foot club that holds as many as 1,200 customers.

Sean Christie, vice president of operations at Wynn, vowed to make Intrigue a unique concept of luxury and service; with music of different formats; plus a new glass patio; pyrotechnics; and top lighting and sound design.

GOSSIP FROM THE GOLDEN AGE

Some gossip takes generations to come out, like how Carrie Fisher divulged a few years ago that Cary Grant (who successfully took LSD therapy) once phoned her up to say she should probably stop shooting up acid.

But the queen of gossip from the Golden Age of Hollywood is Fisher’s mom, Las Vegas’ most lasting female legend, Debbie Reynolds.

In Reynolds’ last book, “Unsinkable: A Memoir,” she described a 1950s showbiz party where Shelley Winters was wearing a dress fluffy enough that two young boys went under it to please her.

Reynolds (who I’ve seen fake-flash front rows by lifting her dress while telling vagina jokes about Elizabeth Taylor) has yet another new book, “Make ‘Em Laugh,” coming out Tuesday.

The book includes these nuggets, according to the Washington Post, People, Closer Weekly and the National Enquirer:

— “Handsome” Prince Philip (still married today to Queen Elizabeth II) groped Reynolds’ “booty” at a party. She was honored.

— “Once, Robert Kennedy made a similar move while we were dancing, but his grope was less charming than the royal one.”

— “Glen Campbell once pinned me to the pool table in his rec room,” she writes. “Always a gymnast, I wiggled out from his grasp and was in my car before he knew it.”

— Reynolds phoned Liz Taylor (who had stolen Reynolds’ husband Eddie Fisher) when Taylor was on her death bed. Reynolds legitimately felt sorry for her complicated friend she loved, however: “I couldn’t help thinking that if someone like Richard Burton walked in right then, she would get well.”

— She hooked up with the king of Belgium, although it’s not clear yet how far the hookup went.

— “Notorious womanizer” Bob Hope once introduced Reynolds to his mistress in Las Vegas, even though Hope’s wife was steps away: “I was shocked.”

— Lucille Ball called Reynolds when her adulterous husband Desi Arnaz wasn’t around. “Why would he be here? You know I would never be with Desi,” Reynolds said. “I know,” Ball said. “But he said that he likes you. I took a chance.”

— Vegas comedy legend Buddy Hackett accosted her at his house, once, when she was picking up young Carrie Fisher from a playdate.

— Milton Berle, known for having the largest package in show business, hired male prostitute/arranger Scott Bowers for a party as a nude hors d’oeuvres server who displayed his own Moby Whale on the serving tray. (Bowers made his own memoir sex claims about male and female prostitutes serving Grant, Walter Pidgeon, Randolph Scott, Rock Hudson, Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Arnaz, Cole Porter, Laurence Olivier, Howard Hughes, Edith Piaf and J. Edgar Hoover.)

Some months ago, Reynolds, 83, told CNN the films “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “Mother” gave her her favorite roles, but she also loved “How the West Was Won,” “The Tender Trap” and “The Mating Game.” And then in that interview, she mentioned “Singin’ in the Rain” as being the movie that made her.

Reynolds has mostly lived in Southern California for the past several years, although she still comes here to visit with her son Todd Fisher and his wife Catherine Hickland.

SEEKING CHEECH & CHONG PHOTOS

One of Tommy Chong’s daughters, Robbi Chong, took the unusual step of asking me to ask all of you for help.

She’s trying to find old photos and film footage of Cheech & Chong performing in Las Vegas during the 1970s, when the world’s most famous pot-humor duo were resident headliners at the Aladdin and other hotels.

“I’m reaching out to see if anyone is holding photos, negatives and film footage from their time there,” she said.

If you want to help: familychong1@gmail.com.

Chong, consistently one of the funniest and sweetest celebrities I’ve interviewed, told me in 2014 that, following doctors’ orders, he eliminated sugar, meat, coffee and everything acidic to battle prostate cancer: “Apparently, I’m cancer-free, according to the new rules.”

But a few weeks ago, Chong, 77, told Access Hollywood Live he was diagnosed with rectal cancer, believing it was caused by the stress of appearing on “Dancing with the Stars” and by poorly thought-out pot suppositories: “So now I found a laboratory where they test and they make sure that the oil that they give you to inject and everything else is pharmaceutical correct.”

So reportedly he just underwent surgery to remove a tumor, and he was using cannabis to relieve pain.

A GOOD ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER

Earlier this week, Craig Wayne Boyd told us in this space that a top showbiz lawyer got him out of contracts with dumb music industry executives who didn’t even know Boyd became their automatic client after winning NBC’s “The Voice.”

A few people wanted to know who this incredible lawyer is, so Boyd has passed along this information via email from a representative, and it sure looked to me like a formidable name:

You know what a more intimidating law firm name was, though? The firm in the vampire-witches-and-werewolves show “Angel:” “Wolfram & Hart.” If you ever hear that phrase, “Wolf, ram and heart,” run like the wind.

Doug Elfman can be reached at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. On Twitter: @VegasAnonymous.